LOUISVILLE, KY—Ford Motor Co. said Tuesday it will shift 550 jobs from one plant here to its nearby Kentucky truck plant to boost production of the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator vehicles to meet growing demand for its large SUVs. Growing sales for both vehicles will account for a 20 percent production boost at the Kentucky plant. Ford's Louisville plant makes the Ford Escape and Lincoln MKC.

The truck plant's production will increase after the summer shutdown in July. Production of Expeditions at the Kentucky plant grew from nearly 50,000 in 2017 to around 76,000 last year, Ford said. Navigator production doubled in the same period to about 24,500.

The Kentucky truck plant has about 8,100 hourly workers and the Louisville plant about 4,400 hourly employees. The latter will soon transition from a three-shift to a two-shift operation, which was announced late last year. Ford has invested $925 million in the Kentucky plant in the past several years to build the Expedition and Navigator. The plant also produces Super Duty pickups.